Growing up Mellor

BOULDER – For most people who hear the name Rick Mellor, they think of the funny, quirky gym teacher and coach from "The Goldbergs" and now its spin-off, "Schooled," on ABC.

But for one University of Colorado sophomore, he's more than that. He's dad.

Macaul Mellor, a sophomore defender on the CU lacrosse team, attended William Penn Charter in Philadelphia, where her father taught gym for 40 years and coached football, basketball and baseball.

One of Rick Mellor's former students, Adam. F. Goldberg, went on to become a successful screenwriter and based a TV show on his life growing up, which went on to be titled The Goldberg's. With the show based on real people and his life growing up, the production team reached out to Rick Mellor to see if they could use his name in the show.

"They wanted his character to be on the show," Macaul said. "So he had to sign-off on it. They flew him and my mom out and they got to watch them make an episode and got to know the characters."

With The Goldberg's becoming a success, it was natural to want to make a spin-off. And with Rick's exaggerated character, it was easy to base it on the fictional William Penn Academy and the teachers there. While some of the characters are made-up, those of Charlie Brown (CB) and Miss Flemming are real. Although as with Rick's character, some parts of their characters have been overblown.

"It's kind of funny to see the characters that they do portray off of real people," Macaul said. "You see it and you see how they portray them and you see how they exaggerated them a little more. A lot of stuff with my dad, when he is yelling at kids, is embellished. My dad will yell at kids, but in a joking kind of funny way. It's funny to see that."

Macaul was in high school while her dad was there. He actually retired following her senior year in 2017. Unlike his character who didn't have any children, Rick had two. Family was definitely a priority for him. When Macaul was in sixth grade, he stopped coaching baseball so he could watch her play lacrosse and her older brother, Brennan, run track.

She enjoyed being in the same school as her dad. "It was actually a lot of fun having my dad there. When I went to gym, I almost always had an edge on people because I knew what we were playing, or stuff like that. But at the same time, he always knew stuff about me before me. I would come home and be like, "Dad, I got an A," and he would be like, "Yeah, I know."

Macaul swam all through middle school, but she switched things up in eighth grade after her dad was offered the opportunity to coach middle school girls' basketball. "I was really bad at basketball, but it was fun having him as a coach," she said. "Every day we would go home and he would have me out shooting."

While coaching for William Penn Charter, Rick had the opportunity to coach some big names, including Matt Ryan, the quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. The two families have stayed close and Macaul remembers attending Ryan's wedding in 2011.

The first episode of Schooled is actually based on Ryan's high school athletic career and following the show, he sits down with Rick in the post-episode interview and the two talk about their time together at William Penn Charter, which apparently includes Ryan almost 'killing" Rick with a line-drive foul ball down the third base line.

"It's realistic, but farfetched realistic," Macaul said. "There are things that are similar, but it is exaggerated."

One episode entitled Tamagotchis and Bells, which might be a little exaggerated, has Rick rethinking his life choices, in particularly having a family. Basically after learning to care for a Tamagotchi, Rick decides it's time to start a family.

"He was about 48 when he had me," Macaul said. "So he was a little up there."

The William Penn Charter connection with CU does not stop with the Mellors. Former CU lacrosse assistant coach Colleen Magarity left CU in 2015 after two seasons with the Buffs. She started working with the Big 4HHH Lacrosse Club in Philadelphia and then went to WPC to coach its girls' lacrosse team. And who was on that team: Macaul.

"One day she mentioned I should look at Colorado for college lacrosse," Macaul said. "I had never heard of it, but she told me to just give it a try."

So Macaul and her father made the drive to Colorado for a camp. During the drive, Rick, who did not want his daughter going that far from home, told Macaul, "Shoot. I know you are going here if they offer you."

And offer they did.

But things did not get out to the best start for Macaul, who suffered a stress fracture in her left foot during her freshman season. She ended up having to get surgery and has a metal screw in her foot.

After missing her freshman season, Macaul is at full strength and has even earned a starting role for the Buffs.

"It's a big difference," Macaul said. "Last year I would watch the drills and sometimes I would be like I really wish I was in there and then the other half could not imagine working that much. It's such a big difference from high school to college. Now that I'm out and working, I'm doing it, and having fun."

The Buffs play six games during the month of March, which includes four straight in Boulder starting March 15. And there in the stands, you will likely see Rick cheering on his former William Penn Charter athlete, who has definitely learned a lot from the retired gym teacher and coach.

(Schooled airs on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. MT following The Goldbergs on ABC. Check your local listings for exact times.)

Players Mentioned

Macaul Mellor

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